Sarah Huckabee Sanders names chief of staff, senior advisor for 2026 campaign

“I know it will be the honor of a lifetime to serve as Arkansas’ 47th governor and the first female governor of the state,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday night at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)
“I know it will be the honor of a lifetime to serve as Arkansas’ 47th governor and the first female governor of the state,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday night at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)

Governor-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Tuesday that Gretchen Conger will be her chief of staff.

Conger served as a senior policy adviser to Sanders’ gubernatorial campaign and works as the deputy director for the governor-elect’s transition team. Before coming to Arkansas, Conger worked for Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s, first as his legislative director and then as a deputy chief of staff.

“Gretchen Conger’s proven experience and leadership from her time in the Arizona governor’s office makes her the perfect choice to serve as my chief of staff,” Sanders said in a news release. “Her dedication during the campaign to develop policy plans and initiatives, as well as her enthusiasm to get to know Arkansans, will help me usher in my bold agenda to take Arkansas to the top and build an incredible, talented team to serve the people of our state.”

Sanders also announced Tuesday that her campaign manager, Chris Caldwell, will be a senior advisor to her re-election. Sanders, who be sworn-in in January, will not be up for reelection until 2026. She also announced she will move more than $2.5 million from her campaign to her reelection effort.

Caldwell worked for U.S. Sen. John Boozman and on former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s 2008 bid for president.

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